Dirks Tagebuch

I started this blog in German but since April 2012 exclusively post in English, so please don't be surprised to find articles in both languages. The blog does not aim for being of interest for the general public but instead serves me as sort of a personal reminder of the little adventures I've lived and hopefully will experience in the future. If others than me enjoy reading my stories or find interesting information, that's great. Please feel welcome to leave a comment!

Jul 30, 2016

After almost one year in my new job which really made me understand the concept of "full-time", I've finally been on a
mountain trip again. Friday after work Xavi and me met (also for the first time since our last trip) and off we were to
Benasque, the Pyrenees' main hub when it comes to climbing 3000m
summits. Our plan was to continue the Alba mountain ridge which we had
started three and continued two years ago. Those two trips had
successfully seen us summiting 7 of the 9 peaks comprising the ridge
between the "Gendarme de Alba" and "Pico Cordier". Unfortunately
however, there are two more we had not stood on yet: Pico Mir and Punta
Delmas. Not missing a certain logic, our plan foresaw to climb these. In case we would have time left we'd also go for the next mountain of that ridge: Pico del Collado de la Rimaya - a peak of secondary importance but considerably higher difficulty. We planned to
have dinner in Benasque, drive to "La Besurta", the last spot accessible
by car, and then either sleep there or start our hike in order to gain
as much altitude as possible before resting for the night.

Jun 29, 2015

Back in 2008, Xavi proposed to climb three summits known as Picos del Infierno, which translates as Summits of Hell. Together with Jordi, a friend of his, we actually gave it a try, but during our climb somehow took a wrong turn and finally ended up climbing 4 neighbouring 3000m summits, known as Algas Norte, Pico Algas, Pico de las Argualas and Garmo Negro. Xavi, furthermore summited Aguja de Pondiellos... an account of that story, albeit written in German, is to be found here.

Mar 8, 2015

And again a bike trip to "The Bad Step Hill", or as it's known here in our regional language: El Turó del Mal Pas. This time, Xavi was so nice to join me and he even brought his telephone with him, on which he runs an application called Wikiloc, able to generate a fancy track of GPS-waypoints, it neatly places into GoogleMaps or similar.

Feb 22, 2015

A couple of kilometres upstream from my village, there's the confluence of the rivers Llobregat and Cardener. For years I wondered how it must feel to stand on the last tip of terra firma between the two rivers and last weekend I set out to experience it first person.

Dec 28, 2014

It has been more than 5 months since my last post. Regarding excursions worth mentioning, nothing really exciting has happened. On a more personal level, however, the birth of our son, last September, certainly marks a before and after in Elisabet's life and mine. The fortunate event also asks for a bit of commitment, which in turn results in rather few opportunities to leave home for a day or two or even six hours at a stretch.click here to read on

Jul 20, 2014

This time I wanted to explore an area I had come by on one of my previous trips that brought me to Les Balmes Roges. At one point, the forest road offers five different paths on which to continue. Number one and two, I tried the last time: the former being a narrow one to my right, which led me to the summit of a hill known as Puig Gili, and the latter being the one that actually brought me to Les Balmes Roges. This time, I was eager to find out what the three remaining possibilities had to offer.

Jul 13, 2014

My last bike trip went to a regionally well known, albeit visually little spectacular, rock shelter known as Puig de la Balma. I had it on my to-do-list for months, if not years, but because of my priorities and available motivation always decided against it when it came to choosing a suitable biking destination.

Jun 28, 2014

Col de Sarradets: Summits, Sarradets Mountain Hut and Roland Gap to be seen

It must have been 10 years, since my friend Ernst first mentioned La Brèche de Roland to me - The Roland Gap, a huge natural gap in the mountain ridge that separates the French Gavarnie Valley from the Spanish Ordesa National Park. Since then, I had caught a glimpse of it from considerable distances every now and then, but never had I actually made it there. Some months ago, when Xavi and me were talking about a possible mountain trip for the summer, I proposed one, that not only would cross the gap, but also would make use of the Sarradets mountain hut, located in the very vicinity of it, and even would include the ascent of some 3000m peaks close by.

Jun 14, 2014

The Delivery Girl's Bum (El Cul de la Portadora) had caught my attention years ago and from the moment I first saw it, I felt an inexplicable urge to make it mine. Some three years ago, I had explored the area around her Bum, but the moment I had wanted to draw in for the final attack, so to say to lay hands on it, it unfortunately began to rain. Not wanting to mount no Bum in slippery conditions, defeated, I withdrew from my undertaking.

May 11, 2014

Last October, Xavi and me climbed the 4 Alba summits. Now, we wanted to ascend some peaks of the next mountain cluster of the same mountain range. That cluster is made up of Punta Delmàs, Pico Mir, Pico Sayó, Pico Le Bondidier and Pico Cordier. Since we preferred not to repeat the route, which passes by the Renclusa mountain hut, this time we chose Puente de Cregüeña as our starting point - a route a little longer and with an altitude difference of 500 additional metres. We therefore opted to start walking as soon as we'd arrive there, which was Friday at 9.45 p.m.

Apr 27, 2014

During my previous bike trip to a nice rock shelter known as Balmes Roges, I caught a glimpse of yet another abandoned estate in our local natural park: Can Putxet. It's not that I hadn't been aware of it, but it never really caught my attention. The other day, though, my glimpse at Can Putxet was from a different angle and suddenly I felt I should further explore it. Yesterday, I gave it a try.

Apr 20, 2014

Years ago, I remember, I usually felt some unease, when in France, probably because I don't speak any French and therefore somehow felt vulnerable there. Since Elisabet dominates French almost as a native, things are different now, and some days short of Eastern we went on a short holliday to our Northern neighbour country.

Mar 8, 2014

Not only another biking article, but even another biking article to a rock shelter... this truly gets monothematic. The Balmes Roges (Red Rock Shelters) are a well known landmark in our local Natural Parc, I had never been to. Last Saturday, however, I decided to have a look at them. My trip, again, got me into the vicinity of "El Farell" first, where this time I took a left turn I'd never taken before. The path then led me by a number of "tines", which could be described as bowls, basins, or a kind of silos, which until, say one hundred years ago were either used as fermentation tanks during the production process of wine or for storage of the finished beverage. The god of wine, Baccus, by the way gave name to the district I'm living in (Bages). Apart of the "tines" I additionally was offered nice views of my favourite abandoned estate around: El Farell.

Feb 28, 2014

In the Natural Parc of Sant Llorenç, there are numerous caves, the deepest of which goes down some 120m into the washed out conglomerate rock. That cave is called "Avenc de l'Espluga", avenc being the Catalan word for vertical cave. As a matter of fact, it is the cave I've visited most times, and every time me and my caving companions went there, we passed at least one night in a cosy rock shelter close by, which bears the name "Balma de l'Espluga", Balma being Catalan for ....... rock shelter, exactly! Since I hadn't been there for years, I thought it would be nice to go there by bike.click here to read on